CERN has posted the next in its series of LHC repair updates. After it was determined that the likely cause of the September 19, 2008 incident was a faulty splice, CERN checked the rest of the LHC for warning signs of similar problems in other superconducting magnets. One magnet that was identified as a candidate for potential problems was removed from the LHC two weeks ago, opened up and inspected, and it has been confirmed that there is a lack of solder on the splice joint in question.
Based on these results, one more of the LHC's eight sectors will now be warmed up so that another dipole magnet can be removed for inspection. CERN states that the warmup of this additional sector will not affect the overall restart schedule. Work to repair and replace magnets damaged in the original incident continues; nine magnets have now been replaced in the LHC tunnel.
